Bought my textbooks... now what???

[luvmy3kids]

I'm starting Anatomy in 2 weeks and I purchased my textbook and manuals yesterday... $270.00 for one course!!!! :trout: (good thing I'm only taking one class at a time)

Anyway.... I was wondering if anyone looks over (or has looked over) their books prior to the first day of class. I realize it can't hurt... but I'm worried I'll start with Chapter 1 and the prof will skip around and start with a later chapter and my good study habits will have been wasted.... LOL

It just looks like so much material to cover I was thinking about reading a few chapters anyway..... What do you all think/do??? TIA

[luvmy3kids]

The first few chapters of most Antomy and Physiology texts review structural organization, homoestasis and the language of anatomy. Getting familiar with anatomical position and terms including proximal, distal, lateral, superficial, deep, ect, are extremely basic but difficult for some students to master. Knowing your body planes and body cavities as well as serous membranes within body cavities will put you ahead of your classmates and make subsequent chapters so much easier to understand. While there is always the risk that the instructor wont lecture in the same order as the text, that first chapter is so fundamental that I doubt the instructor would skip it. Finally, you should definitely read the table of contents carefully and examine a chapter of the text so see how it is organized:

1. Does the chapter start out with an outline?

2. How is the actual text broken up-- big headings, little headings?

3. Is there a chapter summary?

4. Are there review or test questions at the end of each chapter?

Also, check to see if there is an appendix containing charts you can refer to including amino acids, periodic table of elements. If you know those charts are there, you can save yourself a lot of trouble searching within the text or searching online for a reference.

Finally, your text probably came with a CD ROM with some kind of optional online registration. You can always check that out. I actually enjoy using the CD ROMs that come with my texts, while most of my classmates haven't touched them.

Or you could just put your book on the shelf until classes start!

Thank you... You have some great advice! Obviously I'm a bit excited to get started... so I guess it can't hurt to take a peek huh??

Thanks again everyone! You are all awesome!

[MIKelly]

I had planned to start memorizing body parts at least, before class starts (Aug 24th), but I can't make myself do it! I think I might take my books with me on vacation next week and see if I actually open them. Now that it's actually looming I'm feeling lazy.

[luvmy3kids]

I had planned to start memorizing body parts at least, before class starts (Aug 24th), but I can't make myself do it! I think I might take my books with me on vacation next week and see if I actually open them. Now that it's actually looming I'm feeling lazy.

I'm kinda the same way... I posted this on Monday when I bought my books... It's Friday now and I haven't looked at them once... Now I'm starting to doubt even going back to school..... I know once I get started I'll be ok... but I'm really starting to feel it coming on! Yikes

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

read through the first sections of your books. the foreword and the preface and any other of that boring stuff. many of today's textbooks also come with a companion website. if there is one, it will be mentioned in some of those boring pages, or in the very back pages and sometimes on the back cover (as i discovered with one of my math textbooks). if you need a password to get into these websites, ask your instructors on your first day of class and keep after them until you get it. those websites are part of the money you pay for the textbook. you'll want to explore these websites if they exist because they just might have some really good study aides to help you learn what is in the textbook. it also wouldn't hurt to thumb through the textbooks to get a feel for how they are organized.

a note for those of you who might be taking any math classes. check out http://www.interactmath.com it is supported by addison-wesley/pearson publishers, but if you are looking for a free online tutorial help with learning your math, this is the place to go. you just need to find and click on a math textbook that is at the same level you are taking (goes from pre-algebra to calculus), download the free drivers you need to use the software and welcome to the world of patient online math problem exercises with step-by-step explanations on how to do the problems if you need that. try to chose a most recent edition of a textbook to get the most current software and problems. the older software is troublesome to move around in.

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

Now I'm starting to doubt even going back to school.....

The vaccine for this is summer school or a job you hate! I bought one of my three textbooks already. I plan to buy the rest later. I have not cracked it open because I am finishing up summer school!